Any IBM Power / AIX fans out there?

Hi, I just acquired a few IBM POWERstation 370 in unknown condition. I can probably make a couple good units out of the 4 I have - they have disks, memory, etc, were decommissioned from a university environment. I also have a diagnostics set of a cdrom labeled "POWERstation / POWERserver Diagnostics v4.1.5" and a floppy labeled "POWERstation / POWERserver High Capacity (2M byte) Diagnostics Test Diskette", and an external plextor cdrom to use to install software. Right now, since I don't have an AIX 4.3.3 (last supported) install cdrom set, I just want to get a machine powered up and tested. I don't have a 13W3 monitor, nor keyboard or mouse (which I think are non-standard). So, first question is: I plugged up a standard null modem cable to the first serial port, took out the video card, powered up (with nothing in the drives) and saw: nothing. Do I have to make a special cable, or reset the firmware, or something? Also, how does IBM deal with licensing AIX - is it tied to the machine, so if I get a media kit I'm ok to install it? Or did I just buy some boat anchors? Thanks for any info, Jeff Davis